Resolution
by splitting ends
Summary: FEM27 Tsuna gets beaten into the ground, death waiting at the edge of her fading vision, and decides to get up. And get even.


Katekyo Hitman Reborn © Amano Akira

She is sick of being weak.

"Juudaime!" Gokudera watched in muted horror as Tsuna sailed across the training room after receiving the unrelenting blunt of Hibari's tonfa.

Fighting to catch her breath, Tsuna struggled to raise her aching body on calloused hands and bruised-blue knees. _'It hurts… everywhere.'_ She coughed and realized, with disgust, the familiar taste of red copper.

Across the decimated arena, Hibari was casually wiping her blood off his weapons. Finished, he glanced at his opponent, and with his eyes he absorbed the resignation that fell upon the beaten girl like a heavy blanket. His lips pursed in disappointment, and his sharp eyes flashed as if to signal a dismissive message. _'Weak.'_

Silently and suddenly, the cloud guardian heads towards the exit, having already stowed away his weaponry. The bloody cloth fluttered to the floor, ashamed and battered crimson.

Lal Mirch frowned at her colleague's back. "Hibari, where are you going?"

The man didn't even spare her a glance in passing, only a frigid reply. "It's over."

Immediately, Gokudera diverted his effort from hovering over his fallen boss to screaming obscenities at Hibari. Beside him, Yamamoto solemnly glared at his fellow guardian – blazing irises ringed with bottled blue fire – and lifted his hand towards the hilt of Shigure Kintoki.

Meanwhile, Tsuna lay still on the floor – defeated. She heard the biting disappointment in Hibari-san's voice and ferociously sank her teeth into her madden lip. Her orange-dulled-brown eyes burned with shame. She didn't – couldn't even lay a finger on the man's pristine suit. Was this the worth of her resolution?

_A fair-haired girl smiled at the smaller brunette and extended a warm hand. "Hello Sawada-chan, I'm Kyoko Sasagawa. It's nice to meet you!"_

_Bouncing lightly on balls of her heels, Haru held up a cute, faintly pink dress. "Ha-hii! Tsuna-chan, this would look so adorable on you!"_

"_Gyahahaha! Tsun-Tsun, play with me!" Lambo tugged painfully at her hair even as he obnoxiously waved a grenade in the air – one without its pin in place._

_I-pin babbled in her native tongue while she offered a steam bun to Tsuna; its delicious scent wafted between them._

_Fuuta beamed a stellar grin at his sister figure. "Tsuna-nee! According to the Ranking planet, you're the number one Mafioso in accepting people!"_

_Nana Sawada smiled gently through her tears as she waved off her panicked daughter's concern. "Ah, Tsu-chan, Maman's just so happy that you finally made friends!"_

Tsuna clenched her eyes tighter, hoping to leash the tears doggedly lapping at her eyelids. Along with the salty drops, visions of all six guardians swam around; their teenage forms stood on towering pillars, looking down on Tsuna – who lay helpless and whimpering on the forsaken earth. She can't help but think traitorous thoughts.

'_It's better to give up now. I want to give up.'_

A nightmare strikes through her like lightning – the sight of Reborn's sleek gun; the smell of Mom's home cooking; the taste of Yamamoto's father's sushi; the sound of a dying will bullet whistling towards its target; the feel of a hard kick to the forehead as harsh encouragement. And she witnesses all of these familiar sensation evaporate like vanquished smoke at the hands of one ambitious man. Like thunder, something in her rumbled and roared – growing louder upon the full realization that if she doesn't get up **right now**, she will never see, smell, taste, hear and feel home ever again.

**BANG!**

Hibari swiftly dodged to his right as the plume of an orange dragon rushed towards him, its fiery heat licking at the soles of his feet despite his perfectly timed evasion. His previous spot was scorched darker than black. A razor-sharp smirk lit up his face. "Wao."

Tsuna stood proudly, one arm extended in front of her with an open palm facing Hibari and the other arm bent in the opposite direction. Both ends left a trail of rising smoke and blackened metal. The orange flames gleamed upon her forehead like a large jewel; her hands encased in the vivid proof of her resolution.

**I want to be stronger.**

The revived fighter grinded her feet into the ground and aimed her gloved hands at the leftover wall behind her. In a blinding flash of deep red-orange, she sped towards Hibari like a bullet from the barrel of Reborn's gun. Her opponent was readily poised for battle, his interest renewed.

**I will be stronger.**

At the feet of Tsuna's awed audience stood Reborn. Smirking, the Arcobaleno titled his fedora to cloack his eyes in shadows. _'You're so slow, Dame-Tsuna. It's about time you did something for yourself and not just for others.'_

Tsuna understood now, the realization gazed back at her like a reflection on sky-clear water. In order to protect her precious people, she has to be strongest. To encompass everyone in her strength, her dying will, that is what being the Sky means.

Pride flickered across bottomless dark orbs as Reborn appraised his student under the brim of his fedora. The hit man didn't deny the pride that invaded the confines of his heart. Just this once, he will allow this breach of security.

After all – compared to her predecessors' – Sawada Tsunayoshi's flame burned the brightest.


End file.
